Testing of inductively coupled Eddy Current Position Sensor of Diverse Safety Rod in sodium

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is 500 MWe sodium cooled reactor under construction at Kalpakkam, India. To improve the reliability of shutdown, Diverse Safety Rods (DSRs) are used in-addition to normal Control and Safety rods. During reactor operating condition, the DSR is parked above the active core and held in its top position by an electromagnet. In the event of a scram signal from the safety logic, the electromagnet holding the DSR is de-energised. Hence the DSR is released into the active core and at the end of travel DSR gets deposited in its bottom position. Because of the mechanical constraints, hard wired connectivity is not permitted from the DSR subassembly to the instrumentation outside the reactor. Hence an inductively coupled Eddy Current Position Sensor (ECPS) has been conceptualized to detect that the DSR has reached its bottom most position and to measure the drop time. Results of feasibility study on laboratory model have been reported earlier. Testing of a 1:1 scale engineering model of ECPS is reported in this paper. Results obtained from the high temperature sodium testing of ECPS indicate a clearly measurable change in pick up voltage with sensitivity of 11 % at 675 Hz. The ECPS is in advanced stage of implementation in DSRDM of PFBR.